Daily Bulletin

The University Club has a new manager. James Brice comes to UW to take that job, says Bud Walker, UW's director of business services. Brice "is leaving a very successful position at Carleton University," says Walker, "where he has served as the club manager since 1991. James is an active member of the Association of Faculty Clubs International and currently holds the office of Canadian regional director."

E-zine is for first-year students -- by Barbara Elve

Launched last month, the web site applies the "just-in-time" concept of information delivery to an electronic format featuring a monthly update of current campus events, student services and academic life.

Keeping some 4,500 first-year students informed and connected -- especially those living off-campus -- was the challenge, says first-year student life coordinator Melanie Hazelton. The idea of a monthly newsletter was discussed, but maintaining off-campus addresses for students was a challenge.

Applying the newsletter format to a monthly electronic magazine reaches all first-year students in a format they're very adept at, says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services).

Hazelton updates the site the first week of every month with input from a network of academic and student services departments. To help make first-year students aware of the e-zine and encourage them to use it, she sends them a brief e-mail reminder each month following the update.

As an added incentive to check out the site, coffee cards with the URL are provided to all resident frosh by their dons. Those living off-campus are invited to stop by the turnkey desk in the Student Life Centre, show their ID and pick up their coffee cards. As well as providing a handy reminder of the information service, the cards entitle students to a free coffee each month at the turnkey desk.

Already Hazelton has had positive feedback on the site from frosh, as well as suggestions for improvement and offers of help. "The consensus is, it's a needed service," she says.

Toddlers from the Hildegard Marsden Day Nursery brought some Christmas cheer -- and a basket of cookies -- to the office of UW president David Johnston yesterday. While he didn't join in any reindeer games, the president did join in the chorus of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with tykes and teachers.

Improbable research aired today

Marc Abrahams, who is based at Harvard University, will speak at 2:30 in Davis Centre room 1302. Admission is free. Organizers say Abrahams will offer "a slide show presenting outstandingly improbable research, a surprising amount of it genuine, from The Annals of Improbable Research.

The talk includes highlights from the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremonies held annually at Harvard. "Topics span the full range of the sciences and beyond, including: The Taxonomy of Barney; a Spectrographic Comparison of Apples and Oranges; Xerox Micrography; Tabletop Fusion; Feline Reactions to Bearded Men; and diverse other areas of research.

"Heckling is encouraged, as are lab coats and other appropriate and inappropriate regalia."

Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of AIR, also known as "the publication of record for inflated research and personalities". AIR's editorial board of more than 50 distinguished scientists includes eight Nobel Laureates, IQ record holder Marilyn vos Savant, and a convicted felon (I am not making this stuff up, you know). Abrahams also edits mini-AIR, a free monthly electronic supplement to AIR and one of the most widely circulated publications on the Internet.

Abrahams is also master of ceremonies for the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, honoring individuals whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced". The prizes are handed out by genuine Nobel laureates at a gala ceremony held each October at Harvard University. From 1990-1994, he was the editor of The Journal of Irreproducible Results. In 1994, after that magazine's publisher decided to avoid humor, the founders and entire editorial staff (1955-1994) of the Journal resigned, and immediately created AIR. Abrahams also writes for other publications on the topics of science, technology and medicine.

Abrahams graduated from Harvard with a degree in applied mathematics. He subsequently spent several years developing optical character recognition computer systems (including a reading machine for the blind), and later founded Wisdom Simulators, Inc., a creator of educational software.

Winter textbooks "Does the thought of lining up to buy textbooks in January give you chills?" asks a memo from UW's retail services department. "The Bookstore is pleased to announce the return of its popular ExpressBooks service for the Winter 2000 term. Until December 19, customers can place their textbook orders online, and pick up their books during the first week of classes -- without waiting in any lineups. ExpressBooks may be used to purchase all your books, only one book, or anything in between."

Charity, movie, religion, etc.

People who helped with the United Way campaign on campus this fall have been invited to a wrap-up party at noon today in the Davis Centre. "First you cared . . . then you shared!" is the line for supporters of the campaign, which exceeded its $140,000 target. The final count was $141,670 from donations and pledges by 711 people, plus $4,479 from special events, for a total of $146,149.

The front page of Friday's Imprint had a lively story about a new film, "Fireball", that's the work of two UW students, John Turner and Ian Rainey. "The film," Imprint reported, "chronicles the story of two RCMP officers assigned by their chubby donut-munching chief of police to find a missing asteroid after the earth narrowly escapes its destruction." I like it already. The hour-long film will have a special showing at 7:30 tonight in Federation Hall. Admission is $2, with proceeds going to support two charities.

"Spirituality and Peace: Perspectives from Four Major Religions" is the final event in the "Waging Peace in the 21st Century" series that has been offered this term by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group and other sponsors. It starts at 7:30 tonight in Davis Centre room 1302. The event involves four local spiritual leaders: United Church chaplain Paul Ellingham; Raj Dubey, retired mechanical engineering professor, speaking from a Hindu perspective; Mohamed Elmasry, electrical and computer engineering professor and president of the Canadian Islamic Congress; and Nathan Langer, rabbi of Beth Jacob Synagogue in Kitchener. Tonight's lecture is free and open to all.

Here's advance word on three important events tomorrow:

• The annual "triple choir" Christmas concert in the Davis Centre great hall will take place tomorrow starting at 12:15. Not only will three choirs from the music department be heard, there will be sing-along caroling.
• All students who will be working or studying abroad in the year 2000 (in countries other than the United States) are asked to attend a pre-departure orientation session tomorrow, from 2 to 5:30 p.m., in Davis Centre room 1302. Drew Knight and Maria Lango of the international programs office will lead the session.
• The faculty association will hold its fall general meeting tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in Physics room 145.

And this comes from the department of human resources: "December 10, 1999, is the deadline for making contributions to the UW Flexible Pension Plan. Cheques postdated to December 31, 1999, and payable to the University of Waterloo should be sent to Wanda Speek, human resources, GSC, and her extension is 3573 for questions."

Opening in new window? Not

The answer seems to be No. Votes poured in starting as soon as the Bulletin was posted, at 9 a.m., and by mid-morning the trend was clear. I stopped counting for the day at 3:00, by which time 60 people had said Yes, 98 had said No, and 17 had voted for the compromise position, "Only if it's a link to a web site outside UW."

A few overnight votes remain to be counted, but I think it's clear that the majority of readers would like me to continue with the present policy: the new page opens in the same window, and if you want to get back to the Bulletin, you click your "Back" button.

Voting is now closed.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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Copyright © 1999 University of Waterloo